Comments on: Mormon conference to respond to religion’s criticshttp://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2008/08/06/mormon-conference-to-respond-to-religions-critics/
Religion, faith and ethicsTue, 03 Mar 2015 22:46:46 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.3By: PTLhttp://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2008/08/06/mormon-conference-to-respond-to-religions-critics/comment-page-1/#comment-5615
Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:00:03 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2008/08/06/mormon-conference-to-respond-to-religions-critics/#comment-5615The distinction that the conference is sponsored by Fair v. the LDS Church is an illustration of one frustrating weakness of the LDS Church to members and others alike.

The LDS Church does not comment on many issues that relate to important questions being raised at our time. Rather, they permit endless speculation and discussion by church intellectuals. Thus, members of the Church can be exposed to potential answers to their questions that the LDS Church can later disavow if those answers appear to be contradicted by the hard facts.

For example, an official policy on whether the modern Native Americans are largely decendents of Lehi or whether it is a small isolated group would be of interest to many members of the Church. I was raised with the commonly held belief that all Native American’s were “Lamanites” and that this group included the inhabitants of Polynesia. Intellectuals are now furiously backpedalling and skirting around damaging DNA evidence that raises a valid question of whether any Native Americans are decendants of Lehi. Now these intellectuals are attempting to make the case that it has never been the LDS Church’s offical position that Native Americans were predominantly decendants of Lehi. Another open issue that is relevant is whether the Pearl of Great Price is an actual translation of the records that Joseph Smith claimed to have translated or whether it is something else. I can hear numerous accounts by LDS Scholars, but they don’t amount to a hill of beans. As soon as their theories are shown to be dubious they are abandoned in favor of the opinions of other “scholars.” Point in fact is the issue of where the Book of Mormon took place. This should not be a matter of endless debate among scholars in a Church that claims to be led by a Prophet of God.

You will never get a church leader to say whether or not the LDS Church believes that “slavery is inspired of God” or whether “interracial marriage is a sin” as my Stake President told me after seven happy years of marriage to a woman from another race.”

It is not the role of FAIR or FARMS to answer these questions, but it is the role of the LDS Church leadership to answer these questions. Then, FAIR and FARMS can defend that point of view all they want.

However, intellectual leadership on the part of FAIR or FARMS only highlights the fact that we are not getting any leadership on these important questions from the Prophet. I think that these conferences only weaken the LDS Church

Does a Church that

]]>By: charityhttp://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2008/08/06/mormon-conference-to-respond-to-religions-critics/comment-page-1/#comment-5528
Sun, 10 Aug 2008 19:38:34 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2008/08/06/mormon-conference-to-respond-to-religions-critics/#comment-5528While FAIR is not an official spokeman for the Church, we, as FAIR members, do take seriously the injunction of the apostle Paul, to defend the Gospel of Christ.

The FAIR conference has been providing us with the tools to be better defenders for over a decade. Long live FAIR!

]]>By: OKNhttp://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2008/08/06/mormon-conference-to-respond-to-religions-critics/comment-page-1/#comment-5490
Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:50:31 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2008/08/06/mormon-conference-to-respond-to-religions-critics/#comment-5490Ah, yes. It’s a big difference. FAIR has no official sponsorship or approval from the leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

It’s simply a gathering of normal members (and others) of the Church to discuss apologetics (defending the Church).

]]>By: Vookhttp://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2008/08/06/mormon-conference-to-respond-to-religions-critics/comment-page-1/#comment-5487
Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:07:35 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2008/08/06/mormon-conference-to-respond-to-religions-critics/#comment-5487The biggest challenge of denominational conferences like this is they are nearly totally ignored by the critics who “demand answers”. I am sure the content will be scholarly, and because of that unfortunately two of the target audiences will probably miss most of it: Those who have believed erroneous stories about the LDS Church, and those who falsely tell stories about the LDS Church. Still, many members and leaders of the faith will hopefully hear, and one hopes that any faith can be judged on its merits, and not prejudged by the statements of rival faiths.

Thanks for writing about this important effort to clarify LDS teachings. Your statements are very even handed.

]]>By: Edhttp://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2008/08/06/mormon-conference-to-respond-to-religions-critics/comment-page-1/#comment-5483
Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:52:54 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2008/08/06/mormon-conference-to-respond-to-religions-critics/#comment-5483Thanks for looking into the conference! I am looking forward to it. Yes, it is conducted by FAIR, not the Church, but FAIR has done its best to bring together a great group of speakers on interesting aspects of Church history, practice, and doctrine.

I disagree that there is a dearth of archealogical evidence, we simply don’t yet know how things fit together yet. There is plenty of evidence, just no signposts that we can read saying “Moroni was here”.

]]>By: Brycehttp://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2008/08/06/mormon-conference-to-respond-to-religions-critics/comment-page-1/#comment-5476
Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:17:29 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2008/08/06/mormon-conference-to-respond-to-religions-critics/#comment-5476The LDS Church is NOT holding the conference. It is being held by the Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research, or FAIR, which is a completely independent organization from the church. It is NOT an official conference of the church.
]]>By: Jettboyhttp://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2008/08/06/mormon-conference-to-respond-to-religions-critics/comment-page-1/#comment-5470
Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:50:06 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2008/08/06/mormon-conference-to-respond-to-religions-critics/#comment-5470“[MEMBERS OF] or [A GROUP FROM] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), as the Mormon faith is officially called, is holding its tenth annual Mormon Apologetics Conference on Thursday and Friday in Sandy, Utah.”

The Church itself does not hold this conference, and I suspect those who organize it will insist what they say does not represent any official representation or views. Add to that a “LDS” or “Mormon” conference has a very specific meaning. It is a semi-annual meeting when the top leadership of the Church gets together and gives sermons to the entire membership. Although the rest of the article is fine, although somewhat opinionated, the title and first paragraph are misleading.

There is no evidence–none, zilch, nada–even remotely suggesting the same Revelational, Doctrinal and Prophetic continuity with the book of Mormom which exists between the Torah, the Prophets, the Gospels and the Koran.

But even the Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious ‘authorities’ have no real Knowledge of what that continuity is. Thus, not knowing any better, they really have no other choice than to focus on such things as “archaeological evidence”.